Persistence pays off for Peter Koning in San Luis stage 3

25-year-old Peter Koning pulled off an impressive solo victory Wednesday in the third stage of the Tour de San Luis. Photo: Tim De Waele | TDWsport.com

LA PUNTA, Argentina (VN) — The sprinters may have dashed the breakers’ hopes in the second stage of the Tour de San Luis, but the breakaway had its day in Wednesday’s stage 3. Drapac’s Peter Koning took a solo victory at the end of 131 kilometers of racing, crossing the line with a minute and a half to spare over the pack. Fernando Gaviria (Etixx – Quick-Step) bested Travis McCabe (Holowesko-Citadel Racing) in the battle for second place, with Tinkoff’s Peter Sagan just behind.

Not long after the peloton rolled off the start line in Potrero de Los Funes, Koning, Elias Tello (Chile), Emanuel Guevara (San Luis), and Gonzalo Najar (SEP – San Juan) broke clear of the bunch. The quartet gradually built up an advantage of around five minutes, and the gap hovered in that range for the next hour as the break and the pack approached the day’s main challenge, the second-category Mirador del Potrero climb.

Tinkoff and Etixx, hoping to give their respective sprinters Peter Sagan and Fernando Gaviria a shot at the stage win, set the pace in the pack in an attempt the breakaway on a leash.

With around 30 kilometers to go, Koning made his solo bid for glory out of the break. Tello and Guevara tried to follow, but the 25-year-old Dutchman was too strong, leaving them in his wake as he neared the slopes of the climb.

Meanwhile, the pace of the harried pursuit started to split the peloton, with a group of about fifteen getting clear as the road tilted upwards. At one point, Nairo Quintana made an attempt to separate himself from the group and Vincenzo Nibali gave chase, but the move came to nothing.

Though his former breakaway companions were caught, Koning made it up and over the climb with room to spare. He then put in a strong performance on the downhill to maintain his advantage, despite an attempt by world-class descender Peter Sagan to chase him down. As the road evened out, it became clear that Koning would take the victory, giving him plenty time to enjoy the moment as he rolled down the finishing straight.

Over a minute later, Fernando Gaviria was the first to cross the line in the sprint for second, with Travis McCabe just pipping Peter Sagan to take third.

“I decided to go early to get time on the big boys like Quintana and Nibali,” Koning said. “As soon as the climb started, I had like three minutes and forty-five seconds [over the chasers], and my DS said, ‘try to keep a solid tempo, if you get to the top of the climb with one minute you’ll have a good chance to win.’ So I went on the climb with a solid pace and I got to the top with two minutes advantage and I thought, ‘Okay, I’m going to win the stage.’ ”

After his massive effort, Koning took over the GC lead by six seconds over Gaviria. On Thursday, the peloton will face the queen stage, which features a summit finish on Cerro El Amago at the end of 140 kilometers of racing.

Holding on to the leader’s jersey will be a tall order for Koning, who is more of a specialist in the time trials than on the slopes.

“I’m not a climber, so it’s going to be really hard to keep the jersey tomorrow as well,” he said. “I expect tomorrow the guys like Quintana will get a couple of minutes on me. I’ll really enjoy the jersey for now and I’m going to enjoy it tomorrow, but after tomorrow, it will be someone else.”